Chapter 26
“Norfe, Chouze, where were you two!”
It was unusual for Nyran to call to them . Norfe replied as he always did .
“Where? We were at the hot spring . ”
“No, you weren’t . ”
“Uh, yes we were . ”
“But we didn’t see you . ”
Chouze said in a small voice .
“Huh? You came to see?”
“Uh, not to see, to search . You know?”
Nyran said a little fl.u.s.tered .
“We were fine . The innkeeper told us . The locals will avoid places where families or women have gone inside . So it was safe… What happened to you two?”
Kaider’s face was buried in the table, and Nyran had a hand on the wall and was looking down .
“That’s strange . We went up to the top because we wanted to see the beautiful sunrise . But there were two women up there, so we went on the opposite side . The sunrise was so pretty . ”
“It really was . Huh? Kaider? Nyran?”
Norfe and Chouze were talking happily, but then they stopped to look at Kaider and Nyran with surprise .
“Okay, fine . I’m sorry . We’ll tell you from now on . But don’t act so strict next time, okay?”
Norfe said with a little exasperation .
“Hey, Norfe . Since it was far away and so dark, maybe the two women they saw were actually children?”
“That’s true . ”
“No, they were definitely women . ”
“Don’t say that, you idiot!”
“What, so you saw?”
Norfe asked with deep interest .
“I didn’t see! I didn’t! But, it kind burned into my eyes…”
“What an idiot…”
Nyran looked up at the ceiling as Kaider let it slip .
“Horrible . ”
Both of them were annihilated by Chouze’s small voice .
Maki and Chiharu left them and returned to their room, where they celebrated their success .
“Burned into your eyes? Who says that?”
Maki said in a huff .
“Kaider, of course . ”
“Well, leaving that aside, the problem was that our black hair was in view . ”
“They didn’t seem to be focused enough on our hair, so we’re probably fine . ”
They were not sure if that was a good thing .
“Anyway, we will continue to feign ignorance! Ahhh, I want to stay here for a long time . ”
“We can come again!”
“That’s true . We should keep moving for now . ”
Corail had a warm climate due to being on a mountain with hot springs, and there were some unusual fruits here . There was one that was a soft, green ball that when peeled, was white on the inside .
“It’s like lychee . ”
“Oh yeah . ”
As there was not a lot of them, they were very thankful to the innkeeper who had served it to them as a breakfast dessert . Even Kaider and Nyran, who had not had much of an appet.i.te, accepted the fruits, and they all headed to the capital in a better mood .
As for whether or not Kaider and Nyran were truly sorry .
“I do think that it was careless . We don’t know who might have been there, so we should have been careful . But I was sure that I heard Norfe’s voice . ”
“But they said they were on the other side, so that’s probably what you heard . ”
“Yes, probably . But still…”
“What?”
“You know, it was a sight for sore eyes . ”
“You’re such an idiot . ”
“Oh, are you going to pretend that you didn’t see anything?”
“…I did see…”
They were not .
“They were very slender . With pale skin and curves that, and the contrast with the black hair was…”
“Wait-wait-wait a second . ”
“What?”
“They had black hair . ”
“Ah, AHH!”
“Yes! Is there anyone else with black hair? Kaider, you locked eyes, didn’t you?”
“Uh, yeah . But the body was more…”
“d.a.m.n, you are so stupid . ”
“Alright, alright . Uh, the eyes…were black…”
They looked at each other .
They looked at each other .
“The Saintesses!”
“The Saintesses!”
“No, it can’t be . ”
“After all, the Saintesses were being unveiled at the same time we were in Midland . ”
“How could they come to Corail so quickly? No, no . And there’s no one else here that looks to be a part of their party . ”
“That’s true . Still, it would at least explain the miasma getting thinner… We should have looked more closely . ”
“And you were so harsh with me, Nyran . ”
“Idiot . I’m talking about during the unveiling ceremony . ”
“Oh, right . ”
“If they really are the Saintesses, they will need guards . ”
“We’re supposed to protect the little runts and make reports to the capital . ”
“Yes . This is all so confusing . ”
And so the two men savored that small happiness, and continued on to the capital, without knowing that they were actually guarding the Saintesses .
It took 10 days to reach the capital . As they slowly descended from the last town, they came into a wide valley and the capital of Greige entered their view .
“Look at the castle . ”
“Castle?”
There was no large building in sight .
“Maybe it is hard to see if you are used to seeing the castles in Midland or the inlands . Look, you can see smoke rising near the blacksmith’s district . ”
“So that’s the blacksmith district . I see . You mean that two-story building that looks like a gymnasium?”
“Gymnasium? I don’t know what that is, but yes . Where a lot of buildings are crowded together . ”
“Huh…it looks very cozy . ”
“Right? This is the kingdom of smithing . Even the royal family have to be good blacksmiths . And so there is a smithy in the castle as well . You could even say that it is the center of origin for the blacksmith district . ”
“I see . This is your home, right Kaider?”
“Yes . I know all the best and cheapest places . We’ll take you two there . ”
“But we need to find an inn first . ”
“Yes . I know all the best and cheapest places . We’ll take you two there . ”
“But we need to find an inn first . ”
Norfe said .
“Uh, are you sure that you don’t want to stay with me? It’s pretty big, and my mother and brothers would be overjoyed . ”
“We’re very grateful, but we can’t impose on you like that . ”
“Kaider, let them . ”
Nyran interjected . They evaded the worried Kaider as the carriage stopped in Greige .
“We’ll take see you to your inn . But we have business to attend to after that, so, unfortunately, you’ll have to have dinner alone . We’ll be back in 2 to 3 days to tell you are plans, so enjoy the capital in the meantime . ”
“I know, and we’ll be fine . ”
“Still, the town seems a little more excited than usual . ”
Nyran said as he got out of the carriage and looked around . Birdfolk were noisily descending from the sky .
“Is it Orne again? How annoying . ”
Orne’s pouch was brown . These two proudly showed their green and red pouches .
“Sauro and Saikania!”
“Sauro and Saikania!”
“M, no, uh…Norfe and Chouze . ”
“What happened?”
“Soldiers are being sent to the dungeons from Midland . ”
Sauro whispered into Chiharu’s ear .
“Aeris, Grudo and Edwy are coming . ”
“Norfe, Chouze, where were you two!”.
.
It was unusual for Nyran to call to them . Norfe replied as he always did
.
“Where? We were at the hot spring . ”.
“No, you weren’t . ”.
“Uh, yes we were . ”.
“But we didn’t see you . ”.
.
Chouze said in a small voice “Huh? You came to see?”.
“Uh, not to see, to search . You know?”.
.
Nyran said a little fl.u.s.tered
.
“We were fine . The innkeeper told us . The locals will avoid places where families or women have gone inside . So it was safe… What happened to you two?”.
.
Kaider’s face was buried in the table, and Nyran had a hand on the wall and was looking down
.
“That’s strange . We went up to the top because we wanted to see the beautiful sunrise . But there were two women up there, so we went on the opposite side . The sunrise was so pretty . ”.
“It really was . Huh? Kaider? Nyran?”.
.
Norfe and Chouze were talking happily, but then they stopped to look at Kaider and Nyran with surprise
.
“Okay, fine . I’m sorry . We’ll tell you from now on . But don’t act so strict next time, okay?”.
.
Norfe said with a little exasperation
.
“Hey, Norfe . Since it was far away and so dark, maybe the two women they saw were actually children?”.
“That’s true . ”.
“No, they were definitely women . ”.
“Don’t say that, you idiot!”.
“What, so you saw?”.
.
Norfe asked with deep interest
.
“I didn’t see! I didn’t! But, it kind burned into my eyes…”.
“What an idiot…”.
.
Nyran looked up at the ceiling as Kaider let it slip
.
“Horrible . ”.
.
Both of them were annihilated by Chouze’s small voice
.
Maki and Chiharu left them and returned to their room, where they celebrated their success
.
“Burned into your eyes? Who says that?”.
.
Maki said in a huff
.
“Kaider, of course . ”.
“Well, leaving that aside, the problem was that our black hair was in view . ”.
“They didn’t seem to be focused enough on our hair, so we’re probably fine . ”.
.
They were not sure if that was a good thing
.
“Anyway, we will continue to feign ignorance! Ahhh, I want to stay here for a long time . ”.
“We can come again!”.
“That’s true . We should keep moving for now . ”.
.
Corail had a warm climate due to being on a mountain with hot springs, and there were some unusual fruits here . There was one that was a soft, green ball that when peeled, was white on the inside
.
“It’s like lychee . ”.
“Oh yeah . ”.
.
As there was not a lot of them, they were very thankful to the innkeeper who had served it to them as a breakfast dessert . Even Kaider and Nyran, who had not had much of an appet.i.te, accepted the fruits, and they all headed to the capital in a better mood
.
As for whether or not Kaider and Nyran were truly sorry
.
“I do think that it was careless . We don’t know who might have been there, so we should have been careful . But I was sure that I heard Norfe’s voice . ”.
“But they said they were on the other side, so that’s probably what you heard . ”.
“Yes, probably . But still…”.
“What?”.
“You know, it was a sight for sore eyes . ”.
“You’re such an idiot . ”.
“Oh, are you going to pretend that you didn’t see anything?”.
“…I did see…”.
.
They were not
“They were very slender . With pale skin and curves that, and the contrast with the black hair was…”.
“Wait-wait-wait a second . ”.
“What?”.
“They had black hair . ”.
“Ah, AHH!”.
“Yes! Is there anyone else with black hair? Kaider, you locked eyes, didn’t you?”.
“Uh, yeah . But the body was more…”.
“d.a.m.n, you are so stupid . ”.
“Alright, alright . Uh, the eyes…were black…”.
.
They looked at each other
.
“The Saintesses!”.
“The Saintesses!”.
“No, it can’t be . ”.
“After all, the Saintesses were being unveiled at the same time we were in Midland . ”.
“How could they come to Corail so quickly? No, no . And there’s no one else here that looks to be a part of their party . ”.
“That’s true . Still, it would at least explain the miasma getting thinner… We should have looked more closely . ”.
“And you were so harsh with me, Nyran . ”.
“Idiot . I’m talking about during the unveiling ceremony . ”.
“Oh, right . ”.
“If they really are the Saintesses, they will need guards . ”.
“We’re supposed to protect the little runts and make reports to the capital . ”. “Yes . This is all so confusing . ”.
.
And so the two men savored that small happiness, and continued on to the capital, without knowing that they were actually guarding the Saintesses
.
It took 10 days to reach the capital . As they slowly descended from the last town, they came into a wide valley and the capital of Greige entered their view
.
“Look at the castle . ”.
“Castle?”.
.
There was no large building in sight
.
“Maybe it is hard to see if you are used to seeing the castles in Midland or the inlands . Look, you can see smoke rising near the blacksmith’s district . ”.
“So that’s the blacksmith district . I see . You mean that two-story building that looks like a gymnasium?”.
“Gymnasium? I don’t know what that is, but yes . Where a lot of buildings are crowded together . ”.
“Huh…it looks very cozy . ”.
“Right? This is the kingdom of smithing . Even the royal family have to be good blacksmiths . And so there is a smithy in the castle as well . You could even say that it is the center of origin for the blacksmith district . ”.
“I see . This is your home, right Kaider?”.
“Yes . I know all the best and cheapest places . We’ll take you two there . ”.
“But we need to find an inn first . ”.
.
Norfe said
.
“Uh, are you sure that you don’t want to stay with me? It’s pretty big, and my mother and brothers would be overjoyed . ”.
“We’re very grateful, but we can’t impose on you like that . ”.
“Kaider, let them . ”.
.
Nyran interjected . They evaded the worried Kaider as the carriage stopped in Greige
.
“We’ll take see you to your inn . But we have business to attend to after that, so, unfortunately, you’ll have to have dinner alone . We’ll be back in 2 to 3 days to tell you are plans, so enjoy the capital in the meantime . ”.
“I know, and we’ll be fine . ”.
“Still, the town seems a little more excited than usual . ”.
.
Nyran said as he got out of the carriage and looked around . Birdfolk were noisily descending from the sky
.
“Is it Orne again? How annoying . ”.
.
Orne’s pouch was brown . These two proudly showed their green and red pouches
.
“Sauro and Saikania!”.
“Sauro and Saikania!”.
“M, no, uh…Norfe and Chouze . ”.
“What happened?”.
“Soldiers are being sent to the dungeons from Midland . ”.
.
Sauro whispered into Chiharu’s ear
.
“Aeris, Grudo and Edwy are coming . ”.