We manage to arrive at the vice capital, get off the carriage, and thank the patrolmen who saw us here.
“Nnmtto, amazing!”
Priscillchan"s eyes shine as she takes in cityscape spread before her. That"s right, this should be Priscillchan"s first time seeing a big city such as this.
I also follow Priscillchan"s line of sight and take in the vice capital. The city spreads over a gentle hill, allowing us to see even the farthest areas of the vice capital. The highway continues through the heart of the vice capital, divided the hill into two halves, north and south. Also, not only do trees line the road, but lush green parks can be found scattered throughout the city.
Due to dragon raids, there are many st.u.r.dy houses made of stone in the capital city. As such, the wooden buildings here are made that much more conspicuous. If the capital city can be called a stone city, then the vice capital is a wooden city. Still, where do they get their timber from? The dragon forest is in the south like always, but cutting down trees from there is prohibited.
“There sure are a lot of wooden houses.”
Mistral has the same impression as me after taking in the cityscape.
“It seems like they bring in lumber from the mountainous area in the northeast.”
Ruiseine answers our question. She"s really knowledgeable.
“I see. Since this area is no longer the hunting grounds of the flying dragons, they can go north.”
North isn"t a place we can go. That"s something I"ve always felt. As such, I find this thought fresh.
While the view northern area of the cityscape continues without breaking, the northeast is blocked by a hill. Said mountainous area can"t be seen. Instead, my eyes focus on the large building on the hill"s summit.
“Uwahhh, isn"t that the palace where the king lives?”
The royal palace, the center of the vice capital, spreads all over the hill. The castle in the capital city is certainly magnificent, but safeguards against the flying dragons naturally takes priority over its appearance. Here in the vice capital, however, the royal palace in is spectacular. Even out here at the city gate, its dazzling splendor is visible at a glance.
“Uwahhh, so pretty!”
Priscillchan"s eyes sparkle as she stares at the royal palace.
“Nnmtto, I want to go there!”
“Ahaha, except there"s no way we"d be allowed in.”
“We can"t enter, but we can at least gaze at it from outside.”
“I want to see it, I want to see it.”
Mistral catches Priscillchan as she gleefully starts jumping around.
“We"ll visit it next time. Today, let"s look for a place to stay first.”
“Muu, but I wanna go.”
“If you keep acting selfish, I won"t bring you out anymore.”
“Mist is mean!”
“Yes, yes, I"m fine with being mean.”
Mistral is strangely really good at soothing Priscillchan. While Priscillchan struggles in vain to escape, Mistral keeps a firm hold over her and enters the city. We enter the city as well.
The highway continues to serve as the main road, there seem to be more people here than the capital city. Seeing all the pa.s.sing carriages and people going back and forth makes me dizzy.
“I hear there are many inns along the inner road.”
“Eh, Ruiseine, you occasionally come here for errands, right? How is it you"ve only heard that?”
“Etto, when I come on those errands, I always stay at the temple. As such, I won"t be able to stay together with everyone tonight.”
“Ehh, really?”
“We"re parting with Ruiseine?”
Priscillchan"s eyes become teary.
“My, my, well, well, there"s no need to worry. We can still meet again tomorrow.”
Ruiseine strokes Priscillchan"s cheek.
“By the way, what is your errand?”
“Now that you mention it, I certainly don"t seem to have told you?”
With those words, Ruiseine holds up the pouch hanging around her neck.
“There is a valuable medical herb inside this pouch. It is only something we can acquire through transactions with the dragon tribesmen. As such, we immediately send it to the temple the moment we receive any.”
“Hee, is that so? Can I see it?”
“Of course, take a look.”
Ruiseine opens the pouch towards my curiosity and shows it to me. Since it"s a valuable medical herb, can you show it to me, was something I was just asking without expectations though.
She shows it not just to me, but also to Mistral. Priscillchan, being held in Mistral"s arms, also gets to see.
From within the pouch appears a white leaf shining with a faint light.
“This is…”
“If we combine this leaf with other concoctions, the effects of the created medicines will be augmented.”
“Ehehe, that"s amazing.”
The temple not only offers magic treatment, but also provides medical examinations and treatments. In fact, unless someone is seriously injured, that person is most likely to be treated with medicine instead of magic. As such, the temple buys lots of medicinal herbs.
“So this herb has an effect like that. I never knew. I know a place where they grow in ma.s.s, how about I pick some for you next time?”
“Eetto, uhm…”
Isn"t this a precious plant? To be growing in ma.s.s…
“This is extremely expensive, though…”
“I don"t need money.”
“That is…”
Perhaps those dragon tribesmen have overcharging them?
“Ah, the place where they grow is dangerous and ordinary dragon tribesmen don"t go there. That"s might explain the high price."
“But even if Mist-san brings some for me, how should I explain it to those of the temple…”
“That"s true. A disaster would arise if you said an acquaintance among the dragon tribesmen provided them to you.”
“That"s right.”
“I- I"ll just pretend I didn"t hear anything just now.”
With those words, Ruiseine covers her ears with both of her hands. Priscillchan imitates her and covers her own ears from over her hat.
“I"m sorry. I was fussing about strange things. Please forget it.”
“Yes.”
All of us laugh.
After that, we part with Ruiseine and search for an inn.
As expected, with this being a ma.s.sive city, there is no shortage of inns. We thus manage to find a place that meets our conditions perfectly. Except, for some reason, we"re staying in a three-person room. I thought for sure I"d be rooming alone. Mistral surprised me when she suggested we share a room. Priscillchan is utterly overjoyed that we"ll all be staying in the same room.
Incidentally, today"s lodging fee is also being covered by the temple. Ruiseine gave us a wooden slip with a special pattern on it just as we were parting. Apparently, as long as we hand this to the inn, the fee will be forwarded to the temple.
Normally, these are utilized by temple certified adventurers. I"m not a certified adventurer. Why did she give this to me?
When Mistral turns the wooden slip over to the inn staff, she isn"t met with any suspicion.
“Certified adventurers?”
46.2 Just One Souvenir Per One Person>
Hi! I"m a university student that spends my free time reading CN and JP webnovels! My favourites are mostly BL and fantasy, but I generally enjoy reading whatever available.