“Luca, congratulations on your graduation!”

“N～, Thank you. Well, it was about time for you to finally come out.”

“You’re right. I didn’t notice the time passing so fast.”

Emperor calendar, year 346, 3^rd month, 20^th day. My best friend, Luca Zilburn, graduated from the village school. Furthermore, I –Yunu Vertou— has not gone to the school.

As a side note, it seems very unusual for a school to exist in a small village in the mountains. The village’s school is managed by the church priests personally, and although it is cheap since the priest does it out of his own will…

But I’d rather eating daily meals than going to class, and above anything else, if I go to school, my sick brother will be left alone at home.

That was the reason I never went to school.

“Now then, the carriage we’ll ride is scheduled to depart the 24^th of this month, the Day of Fire, right?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get going!”

After I read the diary Nii-san left behind, I decided to go on a journey.

For the time being, the place I aim at is the imperial capital, which was also written in the diary.

But because I’ve never even left the village, I’m not sure how much money I’ll need in the first place.

All that was left by my father, basically consist of only me, so I don’t have any money.

So, I tried talking with Luca for the time being.

Just as I thought, such a remote place from the imperial capital has no regular transportation, and renting a carriage is pretty expensive.

I was at a loss, Luca will go to the imperial capital’s magic school after graduating from school. But it is said that is not much different taking one or two children, so if you negotiate with the driver, the price might be cheap.

So as Luca negotiated in my stead, he managed to bring the price down to half, and I didn’t have to wait until the seventh month. Thanks to that, my preparations are complete.

Just four more days, then I will leave this village where I was born and raised, my heart jumped at the idea that I will go on a journey around the world.

 

 

 

“Luca-kun, Yunu-cha～n, stay safe!”

“See you later.”

“Lu-boy, properly work hard!”

“Yunu-chan, be careful about your health!”

“Luca～! Yunu～! Goodbye～!”

“Both of you, have a safe trip!!”

Despite the departure being early in the morning, we were sent off by all the people in the village. Me and Luca leave the village while being shaken inside the peddler’s cart. Although Luca was desperately trying to endure getting emotional while being sent off, I was crying my heart out until the village was out of sight.

“The imperial capital, I wonder what kind of place that is?”

“Hey, didn’t you take the preliminary examination? The Emperor’s costal city, it is the center for the people in this country, it is the center of all things.”

“Oh～, as expected of Luca. But well, even I know that much.”

“Mo～, even when I try to kindly teach you.

If you want more… Its former name was Bonfluve, it was nothing but a mere fisherman’s town, but when the first emperor, Christoph Noir, on the 35^th year of the Emperor calendar, began the southern war, that marked the beginning of the development of the—”

“I get it, stop, stop, it was my bad. You know so much that anything I know feels like nothing.”

“All I know is information, I also don’t know what kind of place the imperial capital is.”

“Ok? Although I don’t really understand.”

That way, while deciding to travel, I also decided to gather information.

The goal of my journey for the time being is reaching the capital. After that, I’d like to take a journey in order to find the place my brother saw in the landscape painting. I already know that some of the landscape paintings seem to be done from real places. So for the time being, I’ll try to grasp the scope of my journey in the capital, I read on the village books and heard from the priests about some places and cities.

But there are still many things that I do not know.

When I arrive at the imperial capital, I’ll collect information while I sightsee.

I’m sure that with more people, there will be more information.

“N～, I can’t wait to arrive to the imperial capital!”

“Oh, is that so.”

 

 

 

“Today, we’ll sleep outdoors.”

““Yes.””

 

 

 

We kept on going all the time, except for a few breaks for the horses.

And when the sun started to set on the mountains to the west, the peddler ojisan began the preparation to set up camp.

The peddler ojisan was originally an adventurer. Well, I’m sure that if he was not a former adventurer, he could not come alone to such remote village like ours.

If I could describe the ojisan in a word, it would be ‘rough’. The part of his arms that can be seen through the long sleeves seem quite muscular. His skin color is dark brown, same color as his properly kept hair. He has good hemp clothes, with dirt spot here and there. He is a man who, as a whole, looks brownish.

“Do you have anything I can help with?”

“What? Oh, it’s all good, just take a seat. Hey, Lu-boy, it’s time to work! Here, give me a hand.”

“Eh? Ah, with this? I got it.”

Even though I wanted to help, I was driven away.

Luca received something like a nail from the ojisan, and then he stuck it to the ground, as if enclosing the cart and us. As he finished piercing all the nails he had, I came forward to ask the ojisan about what Luca was doing.

“Hey, hey, what was that thing that looked like a nail for?”

“It’s to ward off the mamonos, it would be pretty serious if we get attacked while sleeping.”

“Oh, it’s the first time I see something like this, to ward against the mamonos. So that was what Luca was doing?”

“Yeah, yeah, because places with magical power always have monsters.”

As you leave towns and villages, mamonos, which are different from ordinary animals will appear.

Mamono, a generic term used for organisms that use magical power to sustain their life. Most of the mamonos instinctively eat things with magical power inside. So, when people leave a town or a village, measures against mamonos are essential.

That said, this mamono warding tool seems to be one that releases magical waves that mamonos dislike.

Keeping mamonos away is very convenient, but there are two noticeable drawbacks. First, it uses magical power, so you need to use your magical power to keep it working. And the second is, the effect is weak for stronger mamonos. But apparently, if you pour a huge amount of magical power, this problem can be solved, or so they say.

That’s why the peddler ojisan made Luca set it up, to maintain his magical power in case he needs to fight.

 

 

 

Anyway, thanks to Luca, my first time sleeping away from home seems like it will be a little comfortable.

 

 

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