Chapter 336: Chafing Prevention Medicine and the Run-Down Inn (1)

The leader approached Regina with the collar folded in half and fitted it around her neck.

"This can only be removed at our country’s checkpoints. When you leave the country, make sure you pass through one."

As he explained, he fitted iron shackles onto Regina’s wrists and ankles. He did the same to Marika—collar, wrist shackles, and ankle shackles. His hands were trembling slightly, probably because of Giacomo’s glare.

"Uu... It’s heavy..."

Marika tried to raise her hands, but the shackles were too heavy for her to lift them. Maybe the purpose wasn’t just to restrain a Dule’s limbs when necessary, but also to hinder their movement in daily life.

"Now then, the rental fee for these two sets of Dule equipment and... one, two, three... the passage tax for ten people comes to twenty copper coins."

Twenty copper coins... that was two silver coins.

"That’s way too—!"

Chris started to raise her voice, but Kacha covered her mouth with both hands.

"What was that!?"

"Nothing at all."

The leader raised his voice as if trying to intimidate them, but Kacha answered with a smile while still covering Chris’s mouth.

"Chris, the money."

"But, Lady Kacha—"

"Chris."

"...Understood."

Chris lost to Kacha’s silent pressure and reluctantly pulled two silver coins from the pouch she had hidden inside her armor, handing them over.

"Master Hiroyuki, here."

Kacha turned toward me—or at least she seemed to intend to—and held out the silver coins while facing a slightly different direction.

"Thank you."

I took the coins from her and handed them to the leader.

"This is fine, right?"

"Yeah. It’s fine. Alright, go."

The leader grinned and arrogantly waved us off. We left the inspection post in a hurry without saying anything.

"What was that!? Those bastards!"

After we left the checkpoint, entered the town, and walked for a while, Chris finally exploded.

"Those people are soldiers of our country!? I’ll straighten them out later!"

"Now, now. There must be some reason."

Kacha soothed the furious Chris. It looked like their master-servant relationship had reversed, but it wasn’t an unusual sight. I had seen it often on the way here.

"So the passage tax really was expensive?"

"Of course it was! It’s ten times the amount set by the Holy Kingdom’s regulations! How ridiculous can you get!? And those slave clothes too! If we already have our own, they don’t need to hand them out!"

When I asked, Chris answered, still seething. The slave clothes were probably the hemp ponchos. When she brought them up, Marika, who had been listening, looked up at Giacomo with tears in her eyes.

"...May I change?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

With Giacomo’s permission, Marika looked around nervously and slipped into the shadow of a building.

"Ah, right. Regina, could you come here for a moment?"

"Hm? What is it?"

Called by Marika, Regina also stepped into the shadow of the building.

"Could you lift that a little?"

"Eh? Ah. But... this is hard to lift. ...Is this fine?"

We couldn’t see them, but they were close enough that their voices carried clearly.

"Please keep it like that."

"What is that? ...Hey, what are you doing!"

"Don’t move. Please stay still. If you don’t apply this, it’ll hurt."

"That’s... yeah, that makes sense... nnn..."

"Mmm... this is in the way... okay, the other side too."

"Nnn... don’t, don’t pull!"

"But it’s hard to apply like this... ah, if I do it like this..."

"Ahh... i-it feels weird..."

"There, done."

"A-ah, thanks."

"I’ll apply some on myself too... nnn..."

The voices coming from over there had been strangely sensual for a while now.

"What are they doing?"

"Who knows?"

I asked Giacomo, Marika’s master, but he didn’t seem to know either.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Sorry."

After a while, Marika—who had changed into the slave clothes bought in Lübeck—and Regina, who looked the same as when she had entered the shadows, returned.

"What were you doing?"

Giacomo immediately asked Marika.

"I was changing, but..."

Marika answered right away.

"That’s not all, is it?"

"Eh, um..."

When Giacomo pressed further, Marika’s face turned red and she struggled to get the words out. She glanced at Regina.

"...We were applying medicine to our nipples."

Regina answered casually.

"Medicine...?"

"Yes. It hurts if they rub."

When I asked back, Regina answered while lightly shaking the slave clothes she was wearing.

...So that’s what it was.

"Yeah, if you’re not wearing underwear, it would rub...!"

Floche muttered that, then immediately turned red.

"A slip of the tongue. Ow!"

Niagara teased her, and Floche retaliated physically. It was the usual exchange, but the kind of scene you saw often enough.

"Fufufu. Then let’s go."

Kacha said that and took Chris’s hand.

"You can’t, Lady Kacha. It’s dangerous."

Chris, who usually let Kacha lead her, pulled on Kacha’s hand as she started walking in the wrong direction and corrected her course as they walked. The rest of us followed after them.

From here on, we were in the Holy Kingdom.

...

For now, we decided to look for an inn in the border town of Ostrov.

Since leaving Lübeck, there hadn’t been a single town, village, or even a settlement. We had been camping the entire way. Now that we had finally reached a town, we wanted a proper meal and a bed to sleep in.

That said, the town was lifeless. A border town should have had more foot traffic, but the road connecting it to Lübeck was desolate, so there probably wasn’t much coming and going.

We walked down the main street, which had few people and few shops. Eventually we reached the small town gate that led to the highway toward the Holy Capital. Just before it stood an inn.

It was a reasonably respectable two-story building, but it didn’t seem well maintained. Parts of the walls were crumbling. The door was crude, and if not for the signboard above it with a picture of a bed, it could easily have been mistaken for a private residence.

"Looks like this is the only one."

I muttered as I looked up at the building.

We had come straight down the road from the checkpoint to the town gate that led to the highway toward the Holy Capital. It was a small road, but it was probably the town’s main street, and this was the only inn on it. That meant this might be the only inn in town. There could be others further in, but they were probably even more plain than this one.

"You’re going to make Lady Kacha stay in a place like this!?"

Chris, still holding Kacha’s hand, glared at me with raised eyes. I had been looking forward to sleeping in a bed for the first time in a while, but...

The client was saying this, so there was nothing to be done. The ones paying for the inn were Kacha and Chris, after all. Giacomo and I, who had also been hoping to stay at an inn, exchanged looks and sighed.

"I want to stay at an inn. It’s been a long time since I’ve slept in a bed."

However, as if reading the mood, Kacha said that to Chris.

"Lady Kacha, even as a courtesy, this doesn’t look like a good inn."

"Is that so? But we haven’t gone inside yet."

Chris had spoken based on the appearance, but Kacha, who couldn’t see, argued back. She was right, but...

Even if we went inside, it would probably be the same.

"...Understood."

For Chris, it was rare for her to pause before answering Kacha.

"Then let’s go in."

I checked with Chris, confirmed that no one else objected, and opened the inn’s door.