297 - Each with Their Own Busy Winter
"Could it be... Remihio-sama, deshu ka?"
When it comes to acquaintances in the Divine Kingdom Quebia, he was the only one who came to mind. I had met Remihio once before during the Recollection Festival held in the city of Grenore, when he was dressed in grimy traveling clothes.
"...Huh? Acting King... that is the ruler who governs the Divine King's Domain in place of the absent Divine King, right?"
I tilted my head, recalling the lessons I had learned at Menhishumi Church. If the Acting King was indeed the role I remembered, then the next Acting King would be no different from a prince of the Divine Kingdom Quebia. In terms of position, he would be someone close to Alfred and Felicia.
...So I fed a person like that an incredibly terrible egg sandwich, huh.
No wonder Guide Anna had given Remihio special treatment and guided him all the way to the Spirit's Favored Child's seat. It finally clicked for me now. If he was the next Acting King of the Divine Kingdom Quebia, then of course he would be treated with great care at the Recollection Festival. An Acting King of the Divine King's Domain who carries the blood of the Divine King is someone I normally never would have had the chance to lay eyes on.
"Remihio-sama was an important person, wasn't he, deshu ne."
"Different circumstances, and he would be the ruler of the continent. Meeting you in Grenore was probably a stop along the way during his pilgrimage to succeed the throne, even if it is an acting one."
The lessons at Menhishumi Church naturally had not taught me that much, but it seems the acting throne of the Divine Kingdom Quebia is chosen from among those who carry the blood of the Divine King. The one chosen apparently makes a pilgrimage across the entire continent on foot, visiting the frozen lake at the summit of the Erath Mountain Range and the Virup Desert, where the incident that became the origin of the Recollection Festival took place. Visiting the city of Grenore during the Recollection Festival was probably either on the way to or from the Virup Desert.
"I have a feeling Remihio-sama said something like I could rely on him when I am in trouble..."
Is it really alright to seriously rely on someone that important? If the Divine King had not disappeared and had continued his lineage unbroken, then Remihio would probably have been the next Divine King. Since I have had the inexplicable experience of traveling an unbelievable distance from Grenore to the Mandez residence in a single night, I can grasp it. Spirits and gods truly exist in this world. And the Divine King is said to be the king chosen by the gods. Using the words "you can rely on me," which could only be taken as a social nicety, seriously with Remihio, who could be called the current Divine King, feels a bit problematic. But Alfred wore a completely innocent expression.
"We have got a rare connection. Let us make grateful use of it."
Alfred, who casually declared he would make use of a descendant of the Divine King, showed no trace of guilt whatsoever. He also added that since the Divine Kingdom Quebia houses the temple of Sedovara, the god of medicine arts who is the head of the Sedovara Church, it should be easy to get things done from the start.
...Is it really okay, I wonder?
That said, it was Remihio himself who said he would help when I was in trouble. He must have known there were powerful people around me, and being conveniently used might have been part of his calculations too.
"The problem is the Adorutoru egg."
"That... it deshu seem difficult, deshu ne."
The habitat of the Adorutoru is on the western side of the neighboring Kingdom of Saenard, facing the Empire. The location itself is tricky, but currently, between our Kingdom of Ivizia and the Kingdom of Saenard, a very delicate atmosphere is hanging. In peacetime, they might have let us cross the border peacefully, but now it is unthinkable. A pharmacist from the Sedovara Church might be able to cross the border, but the soldiers assigned as guards and porters are unlikely to receive entry permission.
"If knights as guards will not work, what about... adventurers?"
"Adventurers?"
"They appear in stories, do they not? People confident in their strength who challenge labyrinths and monster subjugation to gain fame and treasure..."
Since Alfred's reaction was not favorable, I explained what adventurers were as best I could. I felt like adventurers and adventurer guilds were elements that appeared in other world stories with near certainty, but they did not seem to exist in this world. At least, not in this country. Occasionally there are reckless adventurer types who gamble, but there does not seem to be any social system where adventuring is a profession or where one can make a living from it.
"If we are talking about the conditions you mentioned... the closest thing would be mercenaries?"
Alfred said that as a fighting force you hire with money, mercenaries would be closest, and if you are sending someone to obtain something that may or may not exist in a distant place, then odd-jobbers would be the thing. I could sort of imagine what mercenaries were, but the mention of odd-jobbers suddenly felt very sketchy.
"When you say odd-jobbers, it sounds really shady, deshu ne."
"Your adventurers sound more shady."
It was decided that we would dispatch a pharmacist with mercenaries as guards to the Kingdom of Saenard. For someone who claimed to be reviving Saint Yuuta Hiraga's secret arts, leaving material gathering to others and the actual compounding work to a pharmacist as well, there was almost nothing I could do. Really, all I did was read research materials. I felt somewhat apologetic and complained a little, and Alfred roughly patted my head. It was a bit like Leonardo's way of patting me, and it made me feel lonely.
Jasper's preparations for the snow berry gathering expedition would take several days. The research materials did not clearly state which region's produce was best, but we decided that produce from the area where Saint Yuuta Hiraga once lived would be best, comparing the materials with old maps. Saint Yuuta Hiraga's base at the time was in the mountains near Waiyak Valley, and the snow berries seemed to have been about halfway between there and the nearest village. He said there was no need to go all the way to Mey Village, but in the end, it was still near the village.
...Well, if Leonyaldo-san is going to spend winter in the capital, there is no need for me to insist on going along, is there deshu ne.
Since he seemed to want to avoid me catching a cold, I decided to obediently see Jasper and the others off. I was a little worried about whether Jasper would have preferred doing transcription work in a room with a fireplace that could not be lit, or the winter journey where he could at least warm himself by a fire.
As I helped Jasper and the others with their steadily progressing departure preparations, a cook was dispatched from Ethelbert's detached palace. As promised, during the winter when Ethelbert returns to his territory, this cook from the detached palace would make Napaji cuisine for us. Thankfully, he also brought leftover ingredients from Ethelbert's detached palace, so we could have anko and Nemaru even starting today.
...Ethelbert-sama, wonderful!
If only he did not have that bad habit of suddenly saying "become my granddaughter," he would be the best grandpa. He is definitely not Grandfather. He is just a nice old gentleman from elsewhere.
"...Ethelbert-sama's cook is here. I was wondering if I could learn to make anko while they are here..."
"Do your best, Kalisa. It would be wonderful if we could eat anko in Grenore too, mashu."
I gave an immediate double yes to Kalisa, who asked if she could occasionally step away from her duties to learn anko-making from the cook. The maids look after my personal needs, but the cook who knows how to make anko is borrowed, and even if the detached palace cook learns it, we cannot bring them back to Grenore. In that case, even though communication still takes a bit of time, it is better to have the maids take care of me and have Kalisa learn Napaji cuisine. Because Kalisa can be brought back when we return to Grenore.
Please learn Nemaru too if you can, I said, sending Kalisa off to the kitchen. If Kalisa learns Nemaru and then passes the recipe to Salisa, I felt like reunions with miso ramen and tonkotsu ramen would no longer be a dream.
...I would kind of like to visit Napaji sometime, though.
Given the transportation situation where the main means of travel are walking or horses, going to Napaji, which is said to be across the sea, would be no mere overseas trip. With my basically reclusive nature, I have no real resolve to cross the sea. I am interested in Napaji's seasonings and foods, but I will just have to patiently wait for them to come across the sea to us.
...First, let us hope Kalisa learns how to make anko.
"Are your cold-weather clothes okay? Did you bring spare gloves? I prepared thick socks, but you did not forget to pack them, did you?"
On the day of departure, I pestered Jasper persistently as he climbed into the small carriage. When I tried to go back to my room to get my fur muffler for him without waiting for his answer, Jasper stopped me. "Are you my mother?" he said.
"If anything, Jasper is about the age of my father, you know deshu yo. Rather than a mother, it is more like the feelings of a sensible daughter worried about her unreliable father's journey, I suppose deshu ka...?"
Realizing I was being teased, I unhesitatingly kicked Jasper's shin through his travel clothes. Unfortunately, the winter boots I had made since coming to the capital were not custom boots with steel toes, so they had virtually no attack power. This will not do. A quiet sense of crisis also welled up. At this rate, when Leonardo returns, I will not be able to send him a baptism of sisterly love.
"The Black Knights are going with you, so I am not worried about attacks from bandits..."
But I was worried about whether he would be alright traveling under the cold winter sky. When I voiced my concern, one of the Black Knights accompanying him as guards told me that because they were loading luggage and equipment for keeping warm, they had ended up using a carriage after all, so things should be a little easier in that regard. Apparently, if I were going along, we would have to spend our entire lives in the carriage, making the carriage itself bigger and greatly increasing firewood and other baggage, slowing us down. But with a small cart-like carriage, it would not affect the journey that much.
"You knights, please be careful not to catch colds too, ne. Please take care of Jasper, deshu."
As I said that and bowed to the Black Knights, Jasper finally made a displeased face.
It is short since it is a continuation from yesterday. We have passed the halfway point, so people from earlier chapters are starting to appear here and there. Kaya will get her spotlight eventually too! (No she will not.)
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.