Volume 1 Chapter 21 Entering the Royal Capital
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
After crossing the Clay Desert and climbing over a mountain, we arrived in the Nobility’s estate area. The roads were well-maintained, so it seemed safe for the Caravan.
Now, it was just a relaxed journey in the carriage towards the royal capital.
Still, I couldn’t help but worry a bit about Ms. Akari and Melon for next year.
I thought about going to pick them up in the village, but that would cost me a lot of money for the round trip. Recently, Puruun got some money from Mr. Agohige after defeating a 50-year-old monster, but it wasn’t enough to cover those costs.
About 2 weeks away from the royal capital, the Caravan entered a big town.
It was called Ilman, where the local lord lived. I was pretty surprised to see such a large town for the first time since coming to this world, and Puruun was surprised too. It seemed like it was her first time seeing a town this big as well.
But they said the royal capital was even bigger and more developed than this.
To leave the Nobility’s territory, we couldn’t just walk through without saying hi. Mr. Agohige took Ms. Sharlin with him to greet the lord.
After dinner, Puruun and I went to our room at the inn. Instead of a straw mat, we had a proper double bed, and we both felt a bit awkward.
Why a double bed?
”Wow, this is really fancy. I usually sleep with Yuuta, but… This might make me a bit self-conscious.”
”I’m fine! We’ve always slept close together on straw mats or in the carriage, and nothing happened!”
”Come on, it’s different. In such a nice room, I might be okay with something happening…”
”No way, Ms. Puruun. It’s been over 3 months since we left Tokura village. It’s summer now, not spring. The beastfolk’s mating season should be over, right?”
”Idiot!”
Haha, I might have been a bit insensitive, but I couldn’t help it.
I wasn’t ready for that yet.
”Yuuta, what’s this?”
Puruun said as she opened a door at the back of the room.
”Oh, that’s a shower. You’ve never seen one?”
”Nope, it’s my first time. What do you do with it?”
”Well, um… let me show you.”
I turned on the water from the shower. Of course, hot water didn’t come out.
”Wow, that’s cool. You can take a bath with this… Yuuta, want to shower together?”
”No, no, no. Look how small this is! It’s for one person!”
”Oh, right.”
She seemed to accept that easily.
”Can I go first?”
”Sure! And this… oh, it looks like soap. If you use this to wash your body, you’ll get clean. And look, there’s a bathrobe here. You wear this after your shower.”
”Wow, if I can change into this, I might as well wash my underwear too.”
Saying that, Puruun started using the shower.
I sat on the bed, zoning out, but I could hear Puruun humming along with the sound of the shower. I wondered if this is what it felt like to be in a love hotel with a girl, even though I had no experience.
Eventually, Puruun came out of the shower with wet hair, wearing a bathrobe.
When she got close, I could smell the nice scent of soap. Man, she really has become a beautiful woman.
”Ah, I feel so refreshed. Yuuta, you should shower too. Soap is amazing!”
”Yeah, I’m glad you like it. I’ll shower now.”
I said that and used the shower too.
When I got out, I saw Puruun’s underwear hanging in the room.
”Oh, Yuuta, you’re wearing a bathrobe too. I’ll wash your underwear.”
She said that while picking up my underwear. In front of me were Puruun’s underwear hanging, which was normal back in the village, but now I imagined she wasn’t wearing anything under the bathrobe, and it made me a bit excited.
After finishing the laundry, the night was getting late.
”Shall we sleep?”
Puruun asked.
”Yeah, we’ll be back to living in the carriage tomorrow.”
Then we both crawled into the double bed.
”Haha, this bed is big. We can sleep without being too close!”
”Isn’t it nice to sleep in?”
”Yeah, but I feel a bit lonely. Yuuta, can I cuddle with you?”
Before I could answer, Puruun hugged me tightly, and her chest pressed against my arm. Oh no, I’m not ready for this… I thought as I turned to face her, but her eyes were watery, and her bathrobe was open enough that I could almost see her n**ple… Wait, haven’t we been in this situation before?
I looked at Puruun’s neck and saw that she was wearing that necklace again! I thought about pointing it out, but then I wondered if she really wanted to be close to me that much, and it made me feel a bit soft towards her. She was okay with it, and as a guy, I should just go for it… Just as I decided that, someone knocked on the door.
What the heck? We were about to have a nice moment… I thought as I opened the door, and it was the owner of the inn.
The rest of the story was pretty annoying, but to sum it up, it seemed that Mr. Agohige had prepared this room for us, but the inn accidentally booked a room meant for Nobility.
No wonder it was so fancy. The owner said that while they could overlook beastfolk, they couldn’t do the same for humans, so we had to move to another room right away.
I see. I’ve already faced some discrimination.
They said we could keep our bathrobes, so Puruun and I hurried to grab our laundry and moved to a different room still in our bathrobes. The new room also had a double bed, but it was just as cramped as the Barua family barn in Tokura village.
”What the heck! This is so rude!”
Puruun was really mad since we got interrupted at a good moment.
”But hey, even if it was a mistake, we got to use a Nobility room for a bit… that’s a cool experience, right?”
”That’s true, but…”
”Well, if we make a big deal out of this, it might cause trouble for Mr. Agohige, so let’s just deal with it. But what do we do? Should we continue what we were doing here?”
”I’m kind of not in the mood anymore… It feels like they know I was wearing the necklace…”
”Then let’s continue in the royal capital. Right?”
”Yuuta, you idiot!”
With that, Puruun threw a pillow at me.
* * *
”Hey, Yuuta. Puruun. You can see the royal capital!”
Ms. Sharlin said that, so I leaned over to look from the driver’s side of the carriage.
I could see a big plateau surrounded by castle walls, with buildings of all sizes packed inside. In the center, there was a tall castle and tower. That must be the royal castle.
It’s definitely way bigger than Ilman.
It might be smaller than downtown Tokyo, though…
Puruun was staring with her mouth open.
”Even though we can see it, we’re still far away. It’ll take us another day to get there.”
Ms. Sharlin said.
”So tomorrow, we finally enter the city!”
Ah, we’re really going to get there. Four months felt both long and short…
Before we entered the royal capital, we passed fields and farms that seemed to go on forever, and I felt like these were what supported the royal capital’s economy.
Then the next morning, we finally entered the royal capital.
The caravan headed to Mr. Agohige’s base inside the royal capital.
It was a place where tax collectors from all over the country gathered, and Mr. Agohige was running a merchant guild there, with his daughter managing it. Puruun and I were shown to the merchant guild building and taken to a guest room.
”Welcome to royal capital Baiden!”
A dwarf woman entered the room as she said that.
Is she Mr. Agohige’s daughter?
She was tall for a dwarf, probably around the same age as Ms. Akari or a bit younger. She looked like a real businesswoman.
Following her, Mr. Agohige and Ms. Sharlin also came in.
”Mr. Yuuta. Ms. Puruun. It’s sad to say goodbye today. But you’ve helped us a lot, and I want to be there for you as friends in the future. Plus, your family will be coming next year, right? I hope we can help each other then. If you have any problems in the royal capital, feel free to ask the Euler Merchant Guild for help. This is my daughter, Humari. She knows a lot of people in the royal capital, so don’t hesitate to reach out to her.”
”My dad is often away on tax trips and other things, so he’s not around the merchant guild much, but I’m here, so come by anytime!”
Talking with Mr. Agohige and his family is nice, even if they’re being polite. Just having someone to talk to when things get tough is a big help.
”Yuuta. The kendo training was fun. Especially the close combat after getting into the opponent’s range. That will be useful in real fights. Puruun… when you hugged me tightly and let me lean on you, I was really happy you called me your friend. Thank you!”
Oh, so you remember what happened when you were drunk. Ms. Sharlin looks a bit teary-eyed.
”Also, I might not get the chance again, but I’m a mercenary. If you need my help, don’t hesitate to ask for a job. If it’s just once, I’ll take priority over Mr. Jin’s bodyguard.”
”Haha, thank you! If anything happens, I’ll definitely ask for your help!”
After saying that, I said goodbye to Mr. Agohige and left the merchant guild with Puruun.
The Euler Merchant Guild arranged a week’s stay for us since we’re travelers from the border. With the map of the royal capital they gave us, we wandered around, not knowing where to go. We have to pay for our stay ourselves, but we need to figure out our next steps from there.
”Hey, Yuuta. What’s that?”
I pulled Puruun, who was super excited about all the new things, and we finally found a place to stay. It looks like a proper inn, and the beds are twins!
Since we didn’t prepare anything, we had to eat dinner at the diner next to the inn.
Wow. It’s tasty, but it’s really expensive. More than I expected. We need to save a lot…
Puruun is already worried about money on our first day in the royal capital, but I guess it can’t be helped.
We decided that our top priority should be to apply to the military, and if we get in, we’ll move into the military dorms right away.
The next day, with the map in hand, we went to the military office to submit our applications. There were no issues with the Village Head’s recommendation, so they accepted our applications on the spot. They told us to come back in 2 days for the results.
We both wanted to explore the royal capital, but saving money was more important. We survived for 2 days on hard bread we bought from a nearby store and didn’t go out much.
Puruun seemed a bit tense and didn’t lean on me as much.
Finally, 2 days later, we both got accepted into the military!
Even though Puruun and I had different reporting locations, they weren’t too far apart. We quickly checked out of the inn and headed to our assigned places.
And so, our military life began. Our start in the royal capital went as planned, and things were looking good.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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