Chapter 183: Leaving Through the Royal Castle Gate

The carriage passed through the gate of the royal castle and left the capital.

I had been told the highway was well maintained, but there were quite a few bumps. My expectations had been too high, so I was disappointed, but from the perspective of the people of this world this was probably a road of above-average quality. Even inside the capital, stone pavement existed only in the Noble District; once you entered the Commoner District there were only a few stretches of it. Still, the surface was level, with no wheel ruts or holes.

Outside the capital the road was wide enough for carriages to pass each other, but four continuous wheel ruts remained. If this was considered "maintained," what were the secondary roads like? Would the condition of the roads worsen the farther we got from the capital?

Wheat fields stretched out on both sides of the road. A history teacher had said that past transmigrators had introduced the three-field system, but I possessed no further knowledge of agriculture, so I could contribute nothing to this country’s agricultural production. Japanese people often try to introduce rice cultivation, but because there was not enough rainfall for it, past transmigrators had tried various things and ultimately failed, I had heard. And stories of a transmigrator making mayonnaise and striking it rich had never actually happened. Although the knowledge of mayonnaise existed, it was extremely expensive and rarely reached anyone’s mouth. I had been taught that it rested on the premise of a poultry industry and the availability of uncontaminated eggs. And if you were going to feed that much to chickens, humans would rather eat it themselves — there were plenty of people living on the edge of starvation.

There was nothing to do while riding in the carriage. I remembered often reading about embracing the maid endlessly inside a carriage, but once I became the person involved I felt no such urge. The thought of having a maid suck me while looking at the scenery did cross my mind, but if it were only one of Lily or Stevie I might ask, yet with both of them sitting right in front of me it was not something I could bring myself to say. I disliked the idea of being looked at with contempt by the two of them. Under the normal relationship between a prince and a maid one would not think such things, but since I could hold them at night anyway, there was no need to be greedy now.

As I blankly stared outside, I saw people in the wheat fields. It was still too early for harvesting, but you couldn’t just leave the wheat alone and expect it to grow, so it was only natural. If there were locusts, those were said to be valuable food. Did that mean insect cuisine would appear at tonight’s inn? I no longer felt I could afford to be picky about food.

Linda had said there were couples who did it in the middle of a wheat field. I wondered how good that felt.

"Robby-sama, about yesterday’s attack..."

Lily spoke. My soul returned to my body.

"According to information as of this morning, all of the attackers are dead."

That was the first I had heard of it.

"Does that mean no one was captured alive?"

"It seems so. When they were about to be captured, all of them drank poison."

"Amazing. Then no one knows who ordered the attack?"

"Yes. Everyone knows who is pulling the strings behind the scenes, but because there is no evidence they keep silent."

"They couldn’t say it even if they wanted to."

"That’s right. And there is one suspicious point."

"What?"

"Our section chief said that the poison might not be of this kingdom’s origin."

"Section chief — that one?"

"Yes. That one."

"The one who completely failed to read the room and ate an enormous parfait."

The image of a face smiling while eating a parfait without any sense of the atmosphere floated up.

"Yes. I think that was something that happened in the flow of events and couldn’t be helped?"

Lily somehow defended him. Stevie was smiling.

"That’s not true! A proper adult would never have done something like that!"

When I said that,

"I thought the same thing in my heart."

Lily said with a troubled face, and Stevie also nodded,

"I thought so too."

See! See! With the agreement of both of them, my heart felt a little clearer.

Carriage travel was truly, truly, truly boring beyond endurance. I must have been making a very bored face, because Lily said,

"Would you like to play Reversi?"

and took out a board.

"I’m good at it!"

Stevie suddenly declared. Heh heh heh, don’t underestimate a transmigrator from another world. I had once studied the basic opening theory of Othello! Though it was difficult and I hadn’t understood it well. Yet,

"Reversi is part of a maid’s accomplishments, you know."

Lily said with a smile.

"Is Reversi a maid’s accomplishment?"

"Yes. Because we need to keep the princes and princesses company, we learn it. Maids also polish their skills among themselves and teach one another. Transmigrators have spread both Reversi and the concept of opening theory."

Stevie said. So they were teaching opening theory?

"Yes, inside the Rear Palace Stevie is among the top players."

Lily added.

"Eh? I’ve never played Reversi with a single maid?"

Then why had not even one maid ever invited me to play? It was puzzling.

"Because, Robby-sama, the moment the situation becomes unfavorable you immediately flip the board over. That is why no one would play with you anymore. Even if a maid deliberately lost, Robby-sama was so unskilled that it was simply too much trouble."

Lily said with a deep sigh. Ah, I understand that very well. There are people like that, aren’t there. I dislike people like that too. But I was one of them...

Still, we began playing Reversi. I was given the white pieces.

"Normally everyone takes black,"

Stevie commented, but we would see. Don’t be surprised when you see the skill of the reborn me!

There was a time when I thought that. Stevie mercilessly won by an overwhelming margin of black 54 to white 10. The difference in ability was so clear that not even tears came out.

"Robby-sama, you have grown. I was surprised you didn’t flip the board."

Lily was impressed, but that was the level of my evaluation.

"Stevie, one more time!"

I challenged her to a rematch with enthusiasm, but the word "holding back" did not exist in Stevie’s dictionary, so I was about to be thoroughly crushed again. That was because when I had no place left to play and it became a continuous series of passes, the carriage shook and the board flipped over.

"I’ve had enough. Don’t you have any other games?"

At my words Lily grinned and said,

"We have cards. We also brought the Game of Life and board games. But we can’t play them inside the carriage. I had intended them for killing time, though."

"I understand the Game of Life, but what other board games do you have?"

"The Hero Game and the Dungeon Capture Game. The Hero Game is one where you form a party and go to defeat the Demon King. The Dungeon Game is also one where you form a party and capture the boss at the depths of the dungeon. Both are played by dividing into the attacking side and the defending side. These too were brought by past transmigrators..."

"Ah— I get it. Then let’s play cards."

"Yes. Let’s do something we can play inside the carriage."

We began with the classic game of Old Maid.

Past transmigrators seemed to have transferred everything transferable. Especially playthings. Therefore I felt that if I spoke half-baked knowledge about this or that I would only be laughed at. I felt there was nothing I could contribute to this world with my Japanese knowledge. Tohoho.

Cards did not involve much technical skill, so they were reasonably enjoyable, but because the carriage shook they were not fun at all. The kind of thing often seen in light novels — someone inventing springs and shock absorbers and attaching them to a carriage — was impossible. Those are the crystallization of automotive industry technology. Even with a cheat ability, at best one might make leaf springs, but shock absorbers require true cylindrical metal tubes that cannot be made, and the oil to put inside them cannot be produced either.

Moreover, despite the large number (probably) of transmigrators from other worlds, not even rubber had been produced. Stories of somehow turning slime into rubber are common, but where would slime be found? And even if slime existed in this world, it was unknown whether it could serve as a substitute for rubber.

Complaining like that would not help. With nothing to do I looked outside and noticed something. There were many carriages and travelers passing in the opposite direction. Since tens of thousands of people lived in the capital, a corresponding amount of daily necessities had to be delivered, so there was probably traffic heading toward the capital.

"Lily, there are quite a few carriages and travelers going to the capital, aren’t there?"

"I’m sorry. I have almost never left the capital, so I don’t know."

Lily answered. Come to think of it, Stevie had once left the capital to meet her dead brother. When I turned my face toward Stevie she understood my intention, but said,

"I’m sorry. I don’t know well either. At the time of my brother I never paid attention to traffic volume. Besides, the road we took then was not this highway but the one leading to the Empire, so there is no way to compare."

Indeed, Stevie was right. There would have been no room to notice such things. Even if there had been, I was probably the only one who would care about them.

While the sun was still high we arrived at the town where we would stay the night. More than surprising, it was exactly as expected — a small, modest town. That meant the lodging would also be shabby. Better not to expect much. Just as I was thinking that, the lodging turned out to be part of the mayor’s house. There was no guest house, and no proper hotel either. There were only slightly better private lodgings, and in that case borrowing a room in the mayor’s mansion was far better.

According to the mayor, whenever an important person stayed in this town they stayed at the mayor’s house, so they were used to the treatment. He said that long ago, when a previous prince who was appointed ambassador to the Mainz Kingdom stayed in this town, he had also lodged them.

Once the luggage was carried into the room there was nothing to do. Even for Lily and Stevie, who were taking care of me, laundry would not be done on the first day.

Then they said they wanted to go shopping. What would they buy on the very first day? When I asked,

"We would like to buy food."

they answered. Last night the two of them had been summoned by the Queen and given a parting gift. They had been told to use that money to gradually buy food along the way and store it in the mana bag. The reason they were told to buy a little at a time was:

"If poisoned food is served at an inn, do not eat it; later eat the food from the mana bag. If for some reason you become separated from the accompanying carriages and are left as only the three of you, as long as you have food you can reach the Mainz Kingdom."

That was what they said. I did not think anything so serious would occur, but advice from an elder should be heeded. Thinking that, I sent the two of them shopping. Was it overthinking to believe that this kind of flag would surely be raised in reality? Well, buy whatever can be bought.