It takes about 15 days to get from the Kingdom of Wolg to the Kingdom of Forrell by carriage, but a dragon can get there in a day.
The Kingdom of Forrell is located just above the Kingdom of Wolg on the map, and although it’s only about 500km in a straight line, you can’t go straight there. There’s a mountain range where dangerous monsters come out, and the road is steep and not maintained at all, so you will have to bypass the mountain range and travel by the foot of the mountain.
However, if you use a dragon, you can go over the mountain, so you can get there in the shortest amount of time. Many of the mountain monsters are strong and dangerous, but it seems that there are no strong flying monsters that can challenge a Drake. Even though it’s the weakest dragon species, it’s still a dragon.
The drake has a high flight speed, though not as ridiculous as a fighter. Although it has big wings, it doesn’t fly by flapping them, it seems to fly by flight magic peculiar to dragons, and I think its maximum speed when flying well in a good wind is about 200 km / h.
We fly normally, at about 60-80km / h without overdoing it, we plan to take three breaks in between before arriving at the Forel Kingdom in about eight hours. Unlike machines like cars, dragons are creatures. Breaks on the way are important.
Now with the mountain crossing over, we just arrived at a Margrave territory of the Forell country.
Entering without notice is a problem as it is, so we’re reporting our passing to one of the Margrave’s gatekeepers who’s at the border.
“Welcome your royal Highness Jail and Luke! We have confirmed your report. If you’d like, we have received a message from the lord that you should take a break at the mansion.”
My brother will handle this kind of thing easily.
“I’m sorry. We need to head to the Duke of Forest as soon as possible so I’ll have to refuse this time. Will you tell the Margrave for me?”
“I understand. The lord has told me not to impede your journey. I pray for your safe return.”
“Oh, thank you. Let’s go.”
Jail is the first prince of a great power … It’s a hassle, but diplomacy is one of his important jobs cause he’s going to become king someday.
“Excuse me, will you buy some flowers?”
Huh? A girl selling flowers …
A girl about 12 years old called out to us with a basket full of flowers.
“Hey! This person is a noble! Don’t call out to them so brazenly!”
“I’m sorry!”
The gatekeeper was a bit harsh with his words, but if she always sells around here, he probably knows this child. Perhaps he was harsh and tried to keep her away so that we wouldn’t do anything to her. Some nobles use violence against the general public for no reason.
“They’re beautiful flowers, how much is it?”
“Feh?”
“He’s telling you that he will buy it. Quickly give him an answer?”
“Yes! One bundle is 50 Jenny.”
Cheap … It’s a bundle of about 15 tulips in pale pink or purple bundled together.
Other than that, the seasonal wildflowers that this child picked up are bundled together nicely.
I don’t know if it’s for pocket money or to help her household, but let’s cooperate.
“They’re cute flowers. Can I get the whole basket? Is this enough?”
I hand over one gold coin.
A basket can be bought with a thousand Jenny, so it’s actually an over payment, but it’s a reward for a cute hard-working girl.
“That … I don’t have change for a gold coin …”
Gold coins are worth about 10,000 yen when converted to Japanese yen.
Bronze coin: Ten Jenny
Iron coin: Hundred Jenny
Silver coin: Thousand Jenny
Gold coin: 10,000 Jenny
Mithril coin: 100,000 Jenny
Orichalcum coin: Million Jenny
it’s a value standard that uses the decimal system. It’s called Jenny.
It seems that the value is about the same when converted to Japanese yen.
“You can keep the change”
“Eh!? But …”
“He’s saying it’s alright. You just have to take it and say thank you.”
“Yes! Thank you! This will cure my mother’s injury!”
What was that!
“Wait a minute! Your mother is injured?”
“Yes … She can be cured with a recovery potion but it will take about 5 days until my father who has money returns …”
From the girl’s story, it seems that her house is not so poor that they can’t afford it. Her father, who has an adventurer card to withdraw money, was away, and it seems that the price of this sale is not enough to buy a recovery potion.
The flower selling itself seems to usually be pocket money for this girl, but now she’s trying hard to sell flowers and buy medicine as soon as possible … She’s a good girl even though she’s young.
My brother came to my side and handed me an intermediate recovery potion. You can buy a beginner’s recovery potion for 10,000 Jenny, but since we don’t know the extent of the wound, my brother handed ne an intermediate potion just in case.
“Take this with you. It’s an intermediate recovery potion.”
“Eh! But I can’t take such an expensive item …”
“It’s all good. Now, go home quickly and heal your mother’s injury.”
“Thank you noble oni chan!”
She bowed deeply and ran with the recovery potion in her hands,
It gives me a big smile!
“Luke, you’re kind to kids … yet not popular.”
“You don’t need to say it like that brother…”
I wanted to take a peek at the Margrave, but I gave up because my brother glared at me.
Since we left early in the morning, the time was still 1:00 pm … We ate lunch, but since we had time, I wanted to pick up something strange in another country.
It’s a day’s ride from here to the Duchy, but a dragon arrives in about an hour.
* * *
About 45 minutes away from the Margrave’s territory, we saw a battle taking place on the highway.
“Brother … Isn’t that a bandit attack?”
“Well … Yes it is … but I can’t place you in danger till I’ve delivered you safely …”
We hover and check the situation far above the battle.
There are eight knights guarding the carriage and about 40 thieves attacking it.
It seems that two knights have already fallen, and the rest are outnumbered and inferior.
Luke has never killed before, of course neither have I.
Wow, I’d really be killing someone … If I get involved, I’ll have to murder.
To be honest, I wasn’t prepared for this when coming to this world.
Why does the cliche bandit event have to happen —
In a world where this kind of behavior happens frequently, it’s impossible for me, a part of the royal family, not to murder. The knight academy that nobles attend is an institution that specializes in teaching such things.
A knight is a person who protects a village, town, or country from threats. Of course, threats include demon beasts, but also include bandits, thugs in towns, and even other countries in the event of war.
In case of an emergency, nobles need to be at the forefront of the fight to protect the commoners. For that reason, the commoners who do not have power pay taxes to the country. Since they’re having a hard time paying taxes, I’m sure they’ll riot if we don’t protect them in such an event. To prevent this, the sons of nobles go to the knight academy to learn how to eliminate threats.
“Since brother became a dragoon, do you have killing experience?”
“No … I’m still an apprentice, so I haven’t been to very dangerous places or missions.”
It’s only been a year since he graduated from school.
“Ah! One knight was killed by magic!”
“Luke, the emblem on that carriage belongs to the Forell royal family … It’s probably someone from the royal family being attacked.”
“We can’t overlook it as members of the Vorg royal family, right?”
“I’m on a mission but I can’t overlook this, I’ll drop you somewhere safe, so wait there.”
“If father knew that brother was going to help and I didn’t, he would get angry … If anything happens to you I wouldn’t be a son in law.”
We’re three boys. The first two are the children of the first wife, and both are extremely excellent, so I was passed the responsibility of this time’s marriage. If the eldest son dies, the second son will succeed the throne, but there is a risk of illness, so they’ll need me for insurance ….
My brother seems to be going to drop me somewhere and join the fight … But if he does that, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life … I have no hero complex or no saint-like desires, but … I don’t want to overlook someone being attacked.
I don’t do foolish things like a special attack or chasing a useless death by fighting 100 opponents, but this time they’re not opponents at all. By nature, bandits are weak … because the bandit business is where those who can’t become knights or adventurers fall.
To be honest, I’m scared … because I’m definitely weaker than the regular knights fighting below. If the knights are struggling, even if my brother, a dragoon apprentice, and I, a child, participate, we won’t be a big force … he knows that, so my brother isn’t saying he’s going to save them, he’s saying he’s going to help.
But it’s not that there’s no chance of winning, We have a dragon! That’s why my brother decided to help.
“Ni san, what will happen to my future position if I, who will be taking care of this country from now on, doesn’t act here?”
“It’ll be awkward, but can you fight? Are you prepared to kill people? If you freeze up, you’ll die?”
“This ‘Orc prince’ also has resolve! If I run away and hide here, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life! I’m also a member of the Wolg royal family!”
“Now you’ve said it! Then we’ll descend and help! If we manage to get rid of the crowded wizards and archers standing behind, we’ll be able to overturn the battle!”
“Brother, please wait!”
“What! If we don’t go quickly, they’ll lose no matter how you look at it!”
“Please remove the [Magic bracelet]! I can’t do anything with this!”
“Oh! I forgot …”
I had him remove the bracelet in a hurry, but … what the heck!