Chapter 243: Journey to the Royal Capital

"Huh? What are you doing?"

Viktor looked surprised, and Qiu Nuoya was just as startled by his own actions.

But for some reason, the Viktor sitting beside him as usual suddenly seemed like a small child, and Qiu Nuoya had instinctively reached out to pat his head.

"Ah... Sorry. But you’ve endured so much and worked so hard all this time. You did really well."

Viktor abruptly lowered his head.

"Why would you say something like that now!?"

Qiu Nuoya’s heart sank.

Oh no. That was a terrible thing to say.

Viktor had lived for far longer than Qiu Nuoya, yet what Qiu Nuoya had just said sounded exactly like an adult praising a child. ℯℯ𝑙.

"I’m, I’m sorry!"

Qiu Nuoya hurriedly apologized, but Viktor still refused to raise his head.

Did I really make him angry?

"What you just said was your fault, Nuoya."

Even after Igor said that, Qiu Nuoya kept apologizing profusely to Viktor. Igor looked at him with an exasperated expression.

"That’s not what I meant. Just like what happened with me, you’re a naturally charming guy who wins people over without even realizing it..."

"Huh?"

"You two really are a perfect match. Viktor should let Nuoya spoil him as much as he wants."

"Eh? What...?"

"N, no! That’s not what I want at all!"

This time, Viktor hurriedly raised his head. His eyes were filled with tears.

Huh? Did he actually make him cry?

Qiu Nuoya stared at Viktor in confusion. When Viktor noticed his gaze, he awkwardly turned his face away.

"Ahhh... I want to see Lilica too..."

Lilica was the name of Igor’s ex-wife. As far as Qiu Nuoya knew, she had since remarried and was now with someone else.

"Viktor, after hearing all that from your old man, you’re going to the royal capital anyway, right? Then let’s get this settled and head there already."

"It really annoys me that I seem to have fallen completely for my father’s smooth talking..."

Viktor looked sulky, and somehow, he seemed a little younger than usual.

Qiu Nuoya knew it was probably rude to think so, but he could not help finding him cute.

Why is that, though?

Until now, Qiu Nuoya had always thought of Viktor as a reliable older brother figure. But after everything Viktor had said and done since yesterday, Qiu Nuoya now felt as though he were looking at a younger brother instead.

"Give it up already. That man isn’t someone you can beat. He’s obviously a sly old fox who’s been through every kind of situation imaginable. There’s no way a little kid like you can go up against him. Just accept it."

Viktor clenched his teeth in frustration, but eventually replied to Igor in exasperation.

"Fine!"

...

"Igor! Igor! Look! Is that the Wyvern Cavalry!?"

Qiu Nuoya looked up and pointed excitedly at the sky, where a group of wyverns was flying overhead.

Igor laughed at Qiu Nuoya’s excitement and glanced up at them.

"Those aren’t the cavalry. They’re a merchant caravan."

Qiu Nuoya tilted his head, unable to understand how Igor could tell what the group was just by looking at them.

Igor pointed at one of the wyverns and explained, "See the patterned belly band wrapped around its stomach? That pattern is their identifying mark. The wyverns ridden by the cavalry have the military crest on theirs."

"I see. If someone mistook them for an enemy cavalry unit and attacked them, civilians could get hurt. So they have clear identifying marks."

"Still, you seem awfully interested in the Wyvern Cavalry. Do you like them that much?"

"I’ve never seen one before, so I can’t say whether I like them or not yet. But I do think they look really cool!"

From Qiu Nuoya’s perspective, they were basically like fighter pilots. Controlling a machine and going into battle with it was already incredibly cool, wasn’t it?

Not that Qiu Nuoya was advocating warfare. He was a pacifist, after all. Still, there was just something inherently cool about pilots. He thought driving a train or flying an airplane were jobs that every boy dreamed of doing at least once.

"Nuoya, you’re as carefree as ever... Do you really understand where we’re going now?"

Viktor sounded slightly exasperated, but Qiu Nuoya understood perfectly well.

"We’re going to the royal capital, right?"

Qiu Nuoya answered clearly and confidently.

Viktor let out another sigh.

Qiu Nuoya understood why Viktor did not want to go to the royal capital, but there was no point endlessly worrying over something that had already been decided.

Of course, Qiu Nuoya also understood that what Viktor was really worried about was not the trip to the royal capital itself, but everything that would happen after they arrived.

They would probably be dragged into a campaign to defeat the Demon King, sent toward the Demon King’s territory, and forced to fight monsters.

They had decided to fight in order to stop the Monster Stampede that was said to occur every hundred years, but Viktor still looked reluctant about the whole thing.

They had stayed at Viktor’s family home in the tourist city of Cider Orchard and spent several days sightseeing before setting out for the royal capital. The Demon King subjugation force was scheduled to depart from the royal capital in one month, so they planned to arrive there in time for that.

For this journey, they were once again traveling by carriage.

However, with their group having grown larger, a single carriage was becoming a little cramped. Qiu Nuoya was wondering what they should do when Viktor casually suggested,

"Then why don’t we just expand the carriage’s cargo compartment?"

"Expand the cargo compartment?"

"I’ve heard there is magic that can do that, but isn’t it supposed to be pretty expensive?"

"Nuoya, you can do it, right?"

Expand the cargo compartment... Ah! That’s spatial magic!

Come to think of it, Qiu Nuoya had expanded his own room back in the city of Oraria. If he used the "Expansion" spell of spatial magic, he could make the cargo compartment larger without changing its appearance from the outside.